Charlie Whitehurst is apparently not satisfied with backing up starting QB Tarvaris Jackson and made a bit of a statement in the 3rd Quarter. He engineered a 15 play, 86 yard drive down the field while connecting on 9 of 10 passes for 76 yards. On the first play of the fourth quarter, he tossed a 3-yard touchdown pass to TE Anthony McCoy while falling backwards and running to his left.
He's looked poised in the pocket, very mobile on bootlegs and rollouts, and, as I brought up yesterday, has shown some brass balls by throwing strong passes into tight windows. This was exemplified by a 14 yard completion to receiver Kris Durham where Charlie rolled to his right and threw on the run to Durham's back shoulder. The rookie out of Georgia came back to the ball and made a diving catch. Durham and Whitehurst both live in Georgia in the offseason and worked out together during the lockout.
The obvious caveat is that all this came against 2nd, 3rd, and maybe even some 4th team guys and likely several that won't even make the Vikings 53-man roster. The takeaway is that he's looked confident and dare I say, cold-blooded? You love to see that type of demeanor from your backup quarterback and it will give the possibly give the Seahawks some things to think about.
The Hawks trailed 13-0 at the end of the 3rd Quarter, but gained some ground on the first play of the 4th by cutting the Vikings lead to 13-7. Stay tuned...
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